March 29, 2019 (EIRNS)—On March 27, speaking at a panel discussion at the March 26-29 annual Boao Forum for Asia, China Development Bank (CDB) President Zheng Zhijie said his bank has already successfully financed over 600 projects in China’s Belt and Road Initiative since 2013, when the initiative was launched. The bank’s financed projects are reportedly worth more than $190 billion, Zheng said, reported Singapore’s Business Times.

The bank’s outstanding loans for international projects to BRI countries hit $105.9 billion by the end of last year, accounting for 34% of its total outstanding loans for international projects, Zheng told the panel discussion. In May 2017, the CDB set up a three-year special lending scheme worth 250 billion yuan (about $37.23 billion) to support BRI cooperation on infrastructure, industrial capacity and financing. By the end of February this year, lending via the special loan facility reached 480.7 billion yuan, of which 139 billion yuan was for infrastructure construction, Zheng said, Xinhua reported.